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Michael Kleinschmidt has specialized in strata law for over 20 years. After admission in Queensland in March 1999, Michael began work establishing a property and strata practice in Brisbane, firstly in respected boutique firms, then as a partner in national and international firms.

After moving back to the Sunshine Coast to raise his family, Michael established his own firm, Stratum Legal Pty Ltd, assembling respected lawyers and talented staff. When the opportunity arose in early 2023 to join forces with Bugden Allen, Michael and his team came on board as part of the Queensland team.

Michael is a fellow of the Australian College of Strata Lawyers (ACSL) and currently serves as President of its Council, effective 1 July 2025.

He is also a member of the Legal Panel of the Australian Resident Accommodation Managers Association (Qld).

Michael has been a long-time member of Strata Community Australia (Qld) and is presently a member of the Professional Standards Committee.

Michael holds both a Bachelor and Masters in Law from the University of Queensland, and a Graduate Diploma in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New England.

Michael writes on practical strata subjects for a variety of trade publications and websites, regularly presents to industry groups and is an active contributor to strata law reform.

Michael is also a member of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management (Queensland) Stakeholders’ Group and the Attorney General’s Community titles Legislation Working Group, in each case representing ACSL.

Across his years of practice, Michael has acted for almost all of the different stakeholder groups (occupiers, owners, bodies corporate, management rights’ operators, banks, body corporate managers, property developers and utilities providers) in almost every conceivable strata matter type ranging from structuring duplexes to 400-lot island resorts, litigating leaking roofs before departmental adjudicators through to appealing novel points of strata law to the Queensland Court of Appeal.